


what do i do with a love that won't sit still?

by iwillbeyourgoal



Category: Hot Guy P.I. (Webcomic)
Genre: Author listened only to Cher's cover of Fernando while writing this, First Kiss, Fluff, Hair Dyeing, Light Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-07
Updated: 2020-07-07
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:28:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25136947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iwillbeyourgoal/pseuds/iwillbeyourgoal
Summary: “It’s a pretty color,” Schmidt said without thinking, and he immediately wanted to sink into the ground and die forever.schmidt helps nando dye his hair
Relationships: Schmidt/Nando, Schmidt/Nando Sy
Comments: 8
Kudos: 182





	what do i do with a love that won't sit still?

**Author's Note:**

> title from "stray italian greyhound" (aka knife dog) by vienna teng

Schmidt was lounging on his couch, lazily flicking through presets on his Lightroom app, trying to figure out which filter balanced his skin tone with the ocean behind him. 

He’d been on a trip the previous week with some of his influencer friends to Mallorca and had been staggering the posts on his feed since then. It was a combination vacation and PR opportunity – the more press Hot Guy PI got, the more money they had, the more time they could spend together –

And the more people they helped. Obviously.

“God, I’m an idiot,” he murmured as he swiped between two different filters. “This wouldn’t be so hard if I wasn’t fucking _sunburned_. I can’t believe myself.”

He was about to close the app and start all over when his phone screen changed. 

_Incoming FaceTime from Nando Sy_

He grinned. The two hadn’t seen each other for a few weeks – sure, they’d texted, but this would be the first time in a while they’d talked face-to-face.

Hitting accept, he held his arm out widely. “Nando!”

Nando smiled, his eyes crinkling behind his glasses. Schmidt couldn’t keep from mirroring him – he was so happy to see him. He’d missed his wit, his intelligence...

“Hey, Schmidt. How was your trip to…”

“Mallorca.”

“Turks and Cacos, right.”

...his snarky bullshit. Schmidt rolled his eyes. “It was good, if you must know, except for the havoc the sun wreaked on my skin. The _one_ day I forget to wear an SPF – wait, why are you so close to the screen?”

“Hm?” Nando looked shiftily around. “Don’t know what you mean.”

“I _mean_ that all I can see is your… immediate face region.”

“Well, this is FaceTime, if I can’t show you my face now then when can I?”

Schmidt’s eyes narrowed. “Zoom out, Nando.”

“I don’t – ”

“Zoom. Out.”

Sighing, Nando pulled his phone further away. Schmidt gasped.

“Oh my _God_.”

“I know! I know. You don’t have to say it.”

“Your hair, Nando, your _hair_!”

Nando’s dye job, usually even and bright, was patchy and faded. He still looked good – hard to ruin a face that handsome – but the aesthetic was definitely _off_. 

“That’s why I’m calling actually.”

“Huh?”

“Well, ah, Nadia usually helps me touch up my hair, but she’s at her grandparents’ place upstate, and I obviously can’t call Daniella –”

“Daniella?”

“My ex. Nadia’s mom. I mean, we’re friends, but this just seems. A little too much, you know?”

“Oh.” Schmidt felt incredibly awkward, but Nando barrelled on:

“So I figured I’d call you instead.”

Schmidt snorted. “So I could, what? Berate you? I thought people usually charged for that.”

Nando groaned, but Schmidt could see the beginnings of a blush spreading across his cheeks. “No, dipshit, I was wondering if you’d help me dye it.”

“Oh!” Schmidt blinked. “Oh. Well, I mean, sure. When were you thinking?”

“Like, now-ish? You don’t have to bring anything, I’ve got the dye and stuff. I just figured since we have that meeting with those YouTube twins tomorrow – ”

“Right, right. And you wanna look good for them?” Schmidt couldn’t keep the slight mockery out of his voice.

“I get enough of Gen Z bullying from my daughter, I’d like to restrict it as much as I can from rich internet kids.”

Schmidt covered his mouth as he giggled. “Alright, I’ll be over soon. I was gonna pick up some coffee soon anyway, want me to bring you some?”

“God, yes.”

One 20-minute train ride and a trip to his neighborhood coffee shop later, Schmidt was standing at the entrance to Nando’s building and incessantly buzzing his speaker.

“WHAT,” Nando finally answered.

“Nandooooooo,” Schmidt whined. “Let me iiiiiinnnnn.”

“If you could wait for two seconds then I would!” The speaker let out an angry buzz and the door’s lock clicked open. As he headed in, he could hear Nando mutter, “Fuckin’ moron” in what could only be construed as a fond tone. Schmidt grinned and headed up the stairs and knocked on Nando’s door.

“Come in.”

Nando was bent over his kitchen sink, mixing the dye. He was wearing a tank top with a towel draped over his shoulders, and Schmidt tried desperately not to notice his muscles, the curve of his hips and chest.

It wasn’t working.

“So, this isn’t that hard, and I guess I could _technically_ do it by myself,” Nando said, breaking him out of his thirst-fueled reverie. “But…”

“But you’ve never had to,” Schmidt said, a bit softly.

Nando turned and smiled at him. “Right.”

A thread of sadness tugged at Schmidt’s heart, as he imagined Nando alone in this apartment. When he wasn’t with Nadia or Schmidt, what did he do? He was so eager to talk to Schmidt when they first met, and initially Schmidt had just written him off as your typical rideshare driver, but – 

But maybe he was just lonely.

He cleared his throat and removed the fingerless gloves he always wore, placing them in his back pocket. “So! You ready to get started?”

Nando answered by throwing a ratty towel at him, followed by a pair of clear plastic gloves.

“I suppose I should have asked this on the phone, but you _do_ know how to dye hair, right?”

Schmidt affixed him with a withering glare. “Do you think I did an Instagram Live collab with Brad Mondo and came out not knowing how to dye hair?”

Nando blinked. “I really don’t know how to answer that.”

“ _Yes I know how to dye hair_.”

“Great.” Nando grinned and pulled a chair out from his dinner table. “I’ve got the dye all mixed up. Let’s do this.”

Schmidt crossed to stand behind the chair. Nando had already laid out the brush, bowl and Vaseline, which he was now applying around his hairline. There were a few half-empty tubes scattered nearby, and Schmidt frowned.

“Do you not just use one color?”

“Nope.” Nando was now focusing the Vaseline on his right ear. “I have to combine, like, three different dyes and a conditioner for the color I want.”

“It’s a pretty color,” Schmidt said without thinking, and he immediately wanted to sink into the ground and die forever.

If Nando thought that his comment was odd, he didn’t act like it. “Thanks! Nadia says it compliments my skin tone.”

Schmidt smirked. “As usual, Nadia is right.”

“You’re only saying that because she thinks you’re cute.”

“Listen, all that means is she has good taste. Can’t change that.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Nando waved this comment away, but Schmidt could tell he was smiling. “Let’s get this started.”

Gloves on, Schmidt dipped the brush in the dye and gently started applying it to a small section of hair. 

“Just make sure you really work it into the strands,” Nando said.

“Okay.”

“They have to be saturated with the dye.”

“Okay.”

“Otherwise it might come out patchy.”

“Nando. I said okay.”

They were quiet for a bit, Schmidt brushing the dye in and then massaging it with his hands, working across the back of Nando’s head. 

“This feels really good,” Nando said quietly.

Schmidt paused briefly, his heart pounding. “Does it?”

“Mmhm. You have really nice fingers.”

 _Holy shit_ , Schmidt silently mouthed, his eyes squeezing shut for a moment before he continued. “Th–thank you,” was what he managed to get out.

Something felt fragile, moments from shattering. Schmidt wasn’t sure what it was. He simultaneously wanted to hold it gently in his hands to protect it and lob it against the wall so at least _something_ would happen.

But he just kept working. Once he was finished with the back, he took a deep breath and straightened up. “Uh, I need you to turn around now so I can do the front.”

He wasn’t sure if Nando _really_ needed to turn around, honestly, but he wanted to look at him. Wanted to see his face. 

Nando hummed and scooted his chair around. God, his eyes were so beautiful. The prettiest shade of brown Schmidt had ever seen.

“Hm,” he said, pretending to consider his work. “How would you feel about us stopping here?”

“Schmidt.”

“The two-tone look is in!”

Nando just glared up at him from under his dark lashes and even though he was laughing, Schmidt could feel something dark stirring in his gut. God, he was gone. He was so beyond gone.

“Fine, fine,” he acquiesced. “We can finish it _I guess_.”

He started in on the left side, and as he was massaging the dye in, Nando’s eyes fluttered closed. Schmidt’s breath hitched slightly, but he continued. He was taking his time, making sure to do as thorough a job as possible, because he was nothing if not committed.

He started singing under his breath as he worked. “There was something in the air that night, the stars were bright, Fernando…”

“Oh, my God, not with the ABBA, please” Nando groaned. “I got that approximately twelve billion times a day when I was a kid.”

He looked up at Schmidt, which in turn made Schmidt’s thumb covered in dye swipe down across his forehead.

“Shit!” Schmidt said, laughing a little. “Now you’ve got a big purple splotch on your forehead. The Youtube twins are gonna laugh their asses off.”

“It’s okay, that’s why I put Vaseline on, genius. Just get a paper towel and wipe it off.”

He ripped a paper towel off and knelt down to clean up the mess, but when he looked at Nando, they were on eye level and a lot closer than he’d meant to be. 

“Nando,” he said softly.

Nando didn’t reply, but Schmidt saw his nostrils flare, his chest rising and falling more rapidly with shallow breaths.

“Nando…”

“Schmidt, you… I need…”

And suddenly they were kissing, and it was soft and hesitant and gentle and to be honest completely different from any of Schmidt’s first kisses in a really, really long time. His hands came to rest on Nando’s face and he deepened the kiss, but –

“Ah, fuck!” Nando shoved them apart. Schmidt frowned, hurt, until he saw what Nando was upset about.

“Oh, no,” he said, laughter already bubbling up. Nando had what was essentially two giant purple handprints on either side of his face, and it was _definitely_ in places that he hadn’t covered in Vaseline.

“You fucking moron, _what am I going to do about this now_!”

“Calm… calm down,” Schmidt said, now doubled over and breathless with laughter. “I’m sure we… can clean it up somehow.”

“I hate you. I am never letting you near my hair again.”

Standing up, Schmidt smirked. “What about –”

“Oh, we’re definitely gonna make out again,” Nando said sternly as he made his way to the bathroom. “But your hair privileges are revoked. Fuckin’ horny bastard.”

Schmidt could live with that, he thought as he grinned down at his hands.

**Author's Note:**

> i love drawfee so much and i just discovered hot guy pi last night so of COURSE i had to write fic for it!! thank u karina for the food!!!


End file.
